Videos

Friday

Mar 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

NEW TO DVD

NEW TO DVD

KILLING THEM SOFTLY: Set in a dreary and barren post-Katrina New Orleans, a cruel drama about organized crime with a cast much better than it deserves. After an ill-advised stickup of a high-stakes mob-organized poker game, a series of mob executions threatens to pretty much wipe out the local syndicate. OK. But no suspense, romance or humor? Only dry, weary dialogue, suffering and blood? Afraid so. Starring Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins. HH

LINCOLN: Steven Spielberg's new film focuses on only a few months of Lincoln's life, including the passage of the 13th Amendment ending slavery, the surrender of the Confederacy and his assassination. Rarely has a film attended more carefully to the details of politics. Daniel Day-Lewis creates a Lincoln who is calmly self-confident, patient and willing to play politics in a realistic way. Not about an icon of history, but about a president who was scorned by some of his opponents as a hayseed from the backwoods. He understood them better than they did him. HHHH

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Grandparents who haven't seen their grandkids in years are suddenly called into duty to babysit for a couple of days. Hilarity ensues. No review available.

TOP RENTALS

THE HOBBITT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY: Stuffed with Hollywood's latest technology, Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" prelude has some eye candy that truly dazzles and some that utterly distracts. It's also overstuffed with prologues, flashbacks and long, boring councils among dwarves, wizards and elves as Jackson tries to mine enough story out of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology to build another trilogy. In nearly three hours, Tolkien's brisk story of intrepid little hobbit Bilbo Baggins is drawn out and diluted by dispensable trimmings better left for DVD extras. Part one's embellishments may pay off nicely, but right now, "An Unexpected Journey" looks like the start of an unnecessary trilogy better told in one film. Martin Freeman stars as homebody Bilbo, the reluctant recruit of wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) on a quest to retake a dwarf kingdom from a dragon. HH½ — David Germain, AP

LES MISERABLES: Another remake of the musical set in the time of French unrest, this time starring Hugh Jackman, Lehigh Valley native Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe. Oscar for Hathaway. No review.

THIS IS 40: Judd Apatow returns to the writer/director chair for the first time since the semi-failure of "Funny People" in 2009. This time it's the quasi-sequel to "Knocked Up, " furthering the marriage adventure of the Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann characters. And look, there's Megan Fox in a bikini. No review.

ZERO DARK THIRTY: Two hours of watching a loner female CIA strategist who knows she is right — and the payoff that she is. Jessica Chastain stars as Maya, who was right all along, providing the film with a timely heroine. Lots of murky action in the big capture and death, but lacking the split-second timing and relentless action of director Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker." These characters are less compelling, and the outcome less meaningful. HHH

LIFE OF PI: A miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide best-seller that seemed unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose title could have been shortened to "Life." The story involves the 227 days that its teenage hero (Suraj Sharma) spends drifting across the Pacific in the same lifeboat as a Bengal tiger. The movie quietly combines various religious traditions to enfold its story in the wonder of life. How remarkable that these two mammals, and the fish beneath them and birds above them, are all here. One of the year's best. HHHH

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS: Hyperactive 3-D animated fantasy regarding the plight of Jack Frost, whom nobody seems able to see. Called upon in a crisis to help the Guardians (Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc.), he saves the day. Younger children like the breakneck action, magical ability to fly, and the young hero who has tired of being overlooked. Their parents and older siblings may find the 89-minute running time quite long enough. HHH

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, PART 2: Fifth and final installment of the "Twilight" series, beginning where the previous one ended, as Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) gives birth to little Renesmee, and is introduced by her husband, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), to her new life with vampire powers. In the process Bella has also been miraculously transformed into a much more interesting character, physically superb and emotionally uninhibited. The birth of the infant leads to a sensational climax involving the Washington state vampires and the Volturi of Italy, self-appointed rulers of vampiredom. I suspect "Twilght's" audience, which takes these films very seriously indeed, will drink deeply of its blood. HH½

ARGO: Ben Affleck directs and stars in the incredible true story of how, at the height of the Iranian hostage crisis, a CIA agent and a couple of Hollywood professionals dreamed up a cockamamie scheme to free six Americans who were not being held in the American Embassy but had found refuge with the Canadian Embassy. Kept top secret for 18 years, the operation created a fake sci-fi production named "Argo," convinced the Iranians it was real and used it to spirit the Americans out of the country. With lots of tension and also some humor from John Goodman and Alan Arkin as the Hollywood pros involved. HHHH